Finding the Motivation to Write
A fabulous creative idea explodes in your brain, and then, hello blank page! The expansive nothingness sucks away all motivation like lotion on desert-wasted skin.
Motivation and inspiration don’t necessarily coincide. Nor are they mutually exclusive. I’m often asked how I find the motivation that gets my ideas into a finished product. My answer: a magic fairy wand that I’ve named Makeithappen.
Makeithappen is a lovely wand. It’s invisible, so no one steals if from me. However, that also means I misplace it from time to time. When I have Makeithappen in my hand, I wave it over my chair and say the magic words: Get your ass in that chair and type.
My magic writing wand is portable. It collapses so small that I stuff it in my ear canal. There, it screams at me, “Get out of bed and start writing!” when my alarm goes off at god-awful-early o’clock in the morning.
In these pre-waking hours, my husband and son co-ordinate their blissful snoring. I escape to my work space, wave my now-extended magic wand and seal out the world around me.
Makeithappen doesn’t make a great cup of tea, though. That part of my motivation to write I have to do myself.
The Motivation to Write aka Make it Happen
Seriously though, motivation is not tangible. If it were, my friends, I’d bottle it, sell it, and be richer than Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Oprah, and Walt Disney combined.
Yes, that rich.
Creativity punctuated my life before I made the decision to turn my writing into more than a quirky side note of my personality.
Be a Writer, not a Person Who Writes.
In changing the purpose of my writing, turning my lived experience into a novel that raised money for families of preemie babies, I opened the door to a revised future. I wrote online because I enjoyed crafting ways of telling people about my life. Most of my creative writing projects remained scribbles in my notebooks and folders. I gave myself permission to call myself a writer. That led me to the next step: sharing my creativity with an audience beyond my “ideas folder.”
Write to be Read
I independently published my creative memoir, Growing a Rainbow, because I knew I couldn’t ask a publisher to donate all the profits to charity. As a side note, stories about suffering babies make acquisition editors cringe. I’ve seen it.
When it came time to release my fiction, I admit I was impatient. I spent 40+ years of my life with my creativity bottled up inside me. I wanted the faster (I won’t say instant) gratification that independent publishing provides. The feedback from my readers is a huge thrill. When I lack motivation, I think of the expectation they have of me to present the next part of the story, or a new product.
The “Why” Matters
My storytelling entertains. That is my first “ouch point” if I need to find motivation. My second is money. One book, or one story, will not pay the bills of a writer. I have to plant my hand on that paper or keyboard and shape words.
At least, not until I can implant a device in my brain and sell subscriptions to my imagination.
In either case, if I don’t write, my readers don’t get what they want from me and I don’t get what I need from them.
Inspiration is not Motivation
I’m inspired with ideas every day. I have books full of notes, story starters, or things I’ve witnessed that would make good reading… when I write them.
I don’t see this plethora of information as failure. Quite the opposite. The notes are a well of creativity that flesh out my characters and enrich details of my stories.
My conscientious shift from daydreaming to doing feels visceral, like the difference between wearing an evening dress and being naked. I’ll let you decide which is which.
Find Solidarity in Solitary
I learned early on that sharing my enthusiasm with other writers and readers fuels my authorly motivation. Writing is a solitary task, but we need not be alone in our efforts.
Finding my tribes within the blogging community through BlissDom started the process of connection for me. My creative writing exploded after attending Ad Astra. Since then, I continue networking at events like Limestone Genre Expo and CanConSF. Most recently, I initiated and moderated a NaNoWriMo writing group. This month, I’m heading to ChiZine’s Toronto SpecFic Colloquium (part of the Chiaroscuro Reading Series). I wish I had the budget to attend all the writing events!
We find motivation inside ourselves, even if we look to others for inspiration. Whatever tools or tips each of us uses to find and maintain our motivation, motivation is not something we can attempt to accomplish. Yoda said it the most eloquently: Do or do not. There is no try.
Seeking practical tips for motivation? That’s my next post! Or share yours in the comments below.